If a closer is a team’s best reliever, then why isn’t he used in the highest leverage situations?

If you’re still in the mood to think about baseball and haven’t read Rebecca’s article on leverage, I’d suggest you give it a look. She makes the case that we’ve been making here forever. When the game is on the line, you want your best guy out there. If he then can’t pitch the ninth, well, then that sucks, but if your lesser relievers blow the game then the ninth won’t matter (or, in the case of last night, won’t happen). It’s unorthodox by baseball standards, so it’s just a thought at this point. Managers want to do the safe thing, which is lock down the game at the end. The media might have tarred and feathered Girardi if he used Mo to quell the threat in the 7th and then Robertson blew the save in the ninth (though Rebecca and Ben have a better solution).

Expect this to be a further discussion topic this off-season.